The Osiris Story Slide 1 Slide 2 - Osiris Slide 3 - Farming Slide 4 - Thoth Title The Adventures of Osiris and

d Isis Osiris was born a god but grew up a man. He became king of Egypt at a time when the people were not very civilized. Osiris discovered methods of organised agriculture and taught his people how to cultivate crops. Osiris instructed the people in Egypt to honour the gods and gave them laws for their behaviour. He asked for the support of the god Thoth to do this. Thoth invented the letters of the alphabet, arithmetic, music, sculpture, and astronomy gifts that Osiris passed on to his people. Osiris then travelled to other lands giving all his knowledge and civilisation to other lands. He left Egypt to be governed by his wife Isis and Thoth. During Osiris absence, Isis had no problems as she was cautious and careful. But Seth, Osiris brother was jealous of Osiris success, his land and his wife. He began plotting the assassination of the king. He organised men to help him in this task. Seth had a coffin made which would perfectly fit the shape of Osiris body. It was beautifully decorated and worthy of the greatest king. At a banquet he declared, Whoever can lay in this coffin and whom it fits to that man I will give it. Many guests tried the coffin but they did not fit. Seth jokingly asked Osiris to try the coffin and proudly Osiris lay down in the coffin to discover it was a perfect fit. Seth quickly slammed the lid on the coffin, nailed it tight and poured hot lead around the edge to seal Osiris inside. The king quickly suffocated and Seth threw the coffin into the Nile. Isis went into mourning for her husband. Full of grief she set out along the Nile to find the coffin. Eventually Isis heard the coffin had washed ashore at Byblos. The waves had carried it ashore and lifted it into a tamarish tree growing nearby. However, the king of Byblos had admired the tree and had the huge trunk cut down and placed in his palace to support the roof. The infant son of the King of Byblos was very sick so Isis used her powers to cure him. All she asked in return was that the truck of the tree be cut open and the coffin of Osiris removed. Isis ensured the tree was bound back together. This trunk became the Djed pillar, which was worshipped from that day on because it had once contained the remains of Osiris. Its use spread amongst Egypt where it became a symbol of strength. Isis set sail for home. Once she arrived in the safety of the Nile delta she set the coffin on land and her, and her sister Nephthys, sang beautiful hymns to Osiris. Her magic was able to breathe life into Osiris for a short period of time, enough for Isis to be impregnated with her son Horus. Seth hunted down Isis and imprisoned her but Anubis, her nephew, helped her to escape. Amongst the reeds of the Nile she gave birth to her son, Horus, on the first day of spring. Once Horus was born, Thoth appeared to Isis and urged her to flee with the child to protect him from the evil Seth, who was now ruling Egypt. Isis was not to return until Horus was old enough to rule. Isis placed her baby under the care of the goddess Wadjet who resided on a floating island in the Nile. However, Horus was not safe. Seth sent a scorpion to poison him. The sting made the little boy very sick. But a woman bearing an Ankh appeared, sent by Thoth, and began to recite a long charm to protect Horus. It was important that Horus survived to rule the two lands.

Slide 5 - map Slide 6 - Seth

Slide 7 - Coffin

Slide 8 - Isis Slide 9 - tree

Slide 10 Djed pillar

Slide 11 - ship Slide 12 - Anubis Slide 13 nile reeds Slide 14 - Horus Slide 15 - Wadjet Slide 16 - scorpion Slide 17 - Ankh

Slide 18 The Nile

Slide 19 - crocodile Slide 20 - shrine

Slide 21 - Anubis Slide 22 - Fight Slide 23 - Temple Slide 24 - Boat

Slide 25 - Osiris

All was not well for Seth. He was not satisfied as long as Osiris body existed so he went in search of the coffin. When he found Osiris he tore the body into 14 pieces and scattered them across Egypt. He then laughed aloud and boasted that he had destroyed Osiris. But Seth was mistaken. Isis once more set out to find her husbands body. She travelled up and down the Nile collecting each piece. Even the dreaded Nile crocodile avoided the divine Isis as she attempted to retrieve Osiris. As Isis recovered each piece, she made a wax mould and encased it in a shrine dedicated to Osiris. This is why there are so many shrines to Osiris in Egypt. She did this as a trick for Seth. The real body parts she took to her son Horus in the hope that he might put them together again. With the assistance of Anubis (the god of embalming) and Thoth, the body was reassembled, wrapped in white linen and placed in the Temple of Abydos. Horus was now old enough to challenge Seth. Whilst his father lay in the Temple of Abydos he went to fight his Uncle. In a violent battle which lasted many years, Horus finally defeated Seth and was able to rightfully rule Egypt. Horus returned to Abydos and performed the Opening of the Mouth ceremony on his father to allow him to move into the afterlife. Osiris was given a ladder to climb into the heavens. Osiris could see the mountains of his beautiful country and feel the cool breezes from the earth. The solar boat lighted his passage and finally he stepped into the heavens as an immortal. Osiriss task was now to judge the lives of mortals who sought to follow him. Any Egyptian who died and passed judgement would be brought before Osiris as he has the power of revival and fertility. This is why he is depicted with green skin.